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Contrary to popular belief, us consumers have a lot to say in terms of what companies manufacture and don’t manufacture. If we all stopped buying the poisonous cleaners that are churned out year after year, and start buying more earth friendly cleaners and products, those guys in their fancy chairs and lofty offices are going to have no choice but to get with the program.
Obviously there are some things we need that are not the most eco-friendly, but more and more green options are available and it’s our job to snap them up to send a message to the money grubbers that we care about the world and we want it to live and continue to support life a little longer.
But how can we tell which “green” products aren’t toxic to the planet?
If you live in Canada I wrote a similar piece about their Environmental Choice Eco-Logo and how that makes healthy household cleaners, detergents and the like. The list below takes things one step further.
It’s going to help you make the purchases that are better for the environment. Any product that has 2 or less checks on the list are a good choice, those that have more checks, not so much:
ONE- Is the item made using recycled materials?
TWO- Does it have recyclable packaging or is it made from it?
THREE- Is it made within 150 kilometres of where you live?
FOUR- On the packaging or bottle do you see a logo from a major environmental program, such as the Environmental Choice or Energy Star logo, or that of the Forest Stewardship Council or the Marine Stewardship Council?
FIVE- Is the product durable and able to be reused?
SIX- If there is anything left after use is it compostable or recyclable?
SEVEN- Does it do the work of several products? (eg. all purpose cleaners cuts the need to have so many bottles of cleaners around the house. Less use less waste)
EIGHT- Are replacement parts available so you can maintain the product without having to buy a new one?
NINE- Was the product manufactured using a renewable energy source? (eg. solar, wind or sustainable hydro)
TEN- Are the materials those that can be sustainably grown and harvested? (eg. bamboo is better than wood)
ELEVEN- Is the product free of toxic and/or harmful materials? (eg. volatile organic compounds (VOCs), formaldehyde, heavy metals, antibacterial chemicals or phosphates –lots of soap has phosphates)
Print out this handy check list and keep it in your purse or wallet and use it the next time you go shopping. It’s a fast and easy way for you to determine with household (and beyond) products are eco-friendly and actually not harmful to the planet.
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Thanks for the post.The points you have mentioned here are very important.It’s a very essential issue you have discussed and raised the awareness of people in the process.
Often while products we just look at the green symbol printed on the product to show whether that product is vegetarian or not but we should remember the other points too which are mentioned above.
Thanks
Greatest post, all points most important in our life. Thanks for sharing with us.
Excellent post, you post is really evocative for me. I have learned more! I liked it very much.
As you said we have to check whether the materials those that can be sustainably grown and harvested and also whether the product is free of toxic and harmful materials.
Thanks for the eleven tips. This is wonderful and I was needing this info.
Great post. So many companies try to sell their products as green when in fact they’ve only made a bit of the effort.
Always pay attention!
I can’t agree with you more!!! I have stopped shopping at Super markets because I hate the way the treat farmers and force farmers into using chemicals just so the food look perfect AND the throw away tons of food every year.
My wife and I now go in on a co-op where we get 100% locally grown organic veg and fruit.
We are also now trying to source green cleaning chemical and are now read all labels before we spend our money, as we no longer want to support Corporates!!
Thanks and keep up the great posts
Thanks for sharing. Awareness about econ friendly produts and environment has become essential nowadays.
This is absolute marketing and branding genius.
Thanks for sharing the tips. These are just simple steps in order for each one of us even our children will know how to determine eco friendly products.
i think this is a useful article.getting good and nutricious food will definitely extend our lifes
Its is the time to adopt this or it will be too late
Some companies will only buy in products that have come by boat and refuse to take items that are flown in.
People mistakenly believe that buying green products will not have a great impact, but the power of the consumer is immense. Even a small shift in buying habits can make companies sit up and take notice.
great post! Seriously, these eleven tips are great even when looking for organic pest control products
That’s a great reading we use all green products in our Carpet Cleaning Sydney company we believe that green products not only are better for us and our clients but the environment as well.
Nice Greenary…I recently came across your blog and i have been reading alone.This is fantastic information for blog. I really love the way…
Excellent Points. I will definitely keep these points in mind.
nice article .thanks for sharing these tremendous tips.i keep all your tips.
Great tips,thanks for this post, I really enjoyed it! This post was really interesting – thanks so much for sharing! This post really made me stop and think. Awesome job.
great information thank you
I drink green tea almost every day. Used to drink coffee but lately I’ve stopped drinking it and replaced it with green tea which is very good.really appreciate your post got good points here.
green product are very useful for our health.as i gone through your post i got good points here.well it is not easy to get good contents when you really need them as there is so much junk on the internet.really great site.
Great post, thanks! Me and the wife are going to use these great ideas
Great post, I will follow it,
thanks for the information, very nice post, thanks for sharing it.
Great list thanks. I know that many so-called green products are not at all because of the huge transport costs to get them from the ethical sources to the consumer!
Great one…a world with full greenery,just think of it…
EIGHT- I just buy some product are replacement parts available without having to buy a new one.
You are doing a good job. People should see first if they are buying an eco fiendly product or not. Great advice.
Health is a lifetime assets so if anyone want to earn it for his better life then he have to work for it. So does not need a several hours work out, i think one hour is well enough in a day. As we see that life is becoming so busy and people have no time to take their food so how they will manage this one hour in their life, but they want a good health then they have to pay attention.Those green products some times help full from the health point of view.Anyways keep it up and keep continue with your valuable thoughts.
I hope all the companies in the world will start following companies like Hallmark who makes products that comes from recycled materials. Right now companies focus more on the recession but after the recession is over I hope they’ll focus on developing products which are helpful to the environment since we are really facing a serious environment problem which is global warming. Japan has started to develop electronic cars in order to lessen the release of CO2 in the atmosphere. They also use alternative ways of transportation like bicycle. I hope we should follow those examples in order to act on this serious climate change.
The sourcing of eco products is very difficult, if the product is made from recycled materials manufacturers tend to put it into new lastic packaging. We have managed to get a range of products but sometimes not everything is to our liking, some packaging could be changed to improve things but having very little influence over manufactures making changes is hard. We do what we can where we can to the best of our abilities so i suppose not everything can be purfect but we are so close.
Make your purchasing decision based on if the product meets your needs as a body product, how environmentally friendly the product is, what the toxicity level of the product is, and naturally, the price and quality of the product.
Great list thanks. Thanks for sharing it. Today plenty of eco friendly products are available in market. But all are not really environment friendly. We should check it properly before buying it.